Breast pumps are well known devices for extracting milk from a breast of a user. A breast pump may be used if the baby or infant is not itself able to extract the milk, or if the mother is separated from the baby or infant, for example, if away from the baby at work. Breast pumps may be manually operated, for example by squeezing a handle or operation of a foot pedal. Alternatively, breast pumps may be electrically driven by a small electric motor.
Conventional motorised breast pumps which are driven by a small electric motor operate by reciprocally driving a piston means for effecting pumping in the breast pump which creates a cyclic vacuum and/or mechanically stimulates the breast in order to promote the expression of milk therefrom. For milk expression to occur, a natural reflex called “let-down” must occur. This reflex is controlled by hormones, which allow the milk from the milk glands to be released into the milk ducts. Therefore, it is important that the user is relaxed and so the breast pump should operate in an as natural environment as possible to enable efficient and comfortable extraction of milk.